Carp knock around Wakui, end 10-game skid

TOKOROZAWA, SAITAMA PREF. – Ryuhei Matsuyama hit his first career home run, Bryan Bullington pitched seven solid innings and the Hiroshima Carp snapped a 10-game losing streak with a 5-1 win over the Seibu Lions on Thursday.

Matsuyama hit a two-run homer to right in the sixth inning to extend Hiroshima’s lead to four runs, chasing Lions ace Hideaki Wakui at Seibu Dome.

Bullington (5-2) held Seibu to a solo homer by Takeya Nakamura, his PL-leading 14th, and four other hits over seven innings.

Softbank has won 15 of its 18 interleague games this season, losing only once and tying two.

Fighters 3, Dragons 2

At Sapporo Dome, Sho Nakata hit a tiebreaking sac fly to cap a three-run, eighth-inning rally as Hokkaido Nippon Ham downed Chunichi to win its fourth game in a row

Kazuki Yoshimi took the loss for the Dragons.

Swallows 1, Buffaloes 1 (10)

BayStars 2, Eagles 2 (10)

Tigers 5, Marines 2

Teams make special picks

APNEW YORK

Johnathan Taylor and Buddy Lamothe may never play baseball again after accidents left them partially paralyzed.

That didn’t matter to the teams that picked them Wednesday during the final rounds of the Major League Baseball draft.

Taylor, an outfielder from the University of Georgia, was a 33rd-round pick of the Texas Rangers, while Lamothe, a reliever from San Jacinto College, was the Houston Astros’ 40th-round selection.

Taylor was left paralyzed from the chest down after he broke his neck in March during a game when he collided with teammate Zach Cone, the Rangers’ supplemental-round pick Monday. Texas director of amateur scouting Kip Fagg said the team’s selection of Taylor was “something we felt was right.”

“We would have drafted him either way, regardless of any other circumstances involving his injury or Zach’s draft status,” Fagg said. “Our area scout in Georgia, Ryan Coe, has had a relationship with Johnathan since he was a high school player. The club has always liked his passion and ability as a player.”